


Riverdale Reject

by UselessBard1031



Category: Archie Comics, Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017), Riverdale (TV 2017) RPF
Genre: All canon - Freeform, Angst, Angst and Humor, Canon Compliant, Canon Relationships, Canon Universe, Canon storyline, Canon-Typical Violence, Drama, Drama & Romance, During Canon, Favorite, Mentioned Southside Serpents Gang, Multi, OC not with a real character for oncee, Original Character(s), Other, POV Third Person, Read, Riverdale High School, Romance, Southside Serpent Jughead Jones, Southside Serpent Leader Jughead Jones, Stonewall Prep (Riverdale), Swearing, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, Teenage Drama, To Read, Unread, Violence, after season 4, bughead - Freeform, choni, single original Character, southside serpents, varchie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:49:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24447610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UselessBard1031/pseuds/UselessBard1031
Summary: A new girl comes to Riverdale, but she is no outsider. She is the daughter of Penny Peabody and is not happy when she finds her mom tied up and beaten within an inch of her life at the home of Gladys Jones.
Relationships: Alice Cooper/FP Jones II, Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper & Jughead Jones, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter One

It was standing there, looking at her mother’s broken expression and blackened eyes that Eleanor decided what she would have to do. She didn’t bother to ask her mom any questions, knowing from the dried blood that seemed to entirely cover her body and the peeling skin at her lips that she was in no condition to answer her.  
So instead of talking, Eleanor took a set of brass knuckles off the table next to her. She tried not to think about all the other objects of torture that laid next to them that had probably been used time and again on the woman whom she had not seen in sixteen years.

She closed the false brick door to the secret damp basement room she was in and waited in one of the dark corners, knuckles ready.

  
She wasn’t sure when her mother’s tormentor would be back, but the wait was worth it. Eleanor imagined the look on the woman’s face; the inevitable questions that would be asked:  
“How did you find me?”  
“You really think you can take me on?”  
“Does anyone else know that she’s here?”  
And, of course, “Who are you?”.

  
That was the question Eleanor was expecting the most. If she was being honest with herself, she didn’t think her mom even knew the answer. Eleanor hoped she did; hoped she wouldn’t have to explain.

  
How do you say “I’m your daughter and on my father’s dying breath he came clean about everything so I tracked you down to the last place you were seen only to find out you had been held and tortured”? You didn’t. She did think that her mom at least recognized her in some way given that she didn’t scream through her gag when Eleanor had opened the door to the secret room. Though, Eleanor thought that this could also be because of a numbness from exhaustion and dehydration.

  
She tried to keep her eyes focused on the door, waiting for the woman who she had met above ground, the woman that had told her her mother was dead. The liar. But her eyes kept glancing back at her mom, tied up and barely breathing.

  
This wasn’t how their reunion was supposed to go, Eleanor thought. She expected denial and cynicism, but having to save the life of a woman she wasn’t sure would do the same for her?  
Her eyes darted back to the hidden door as the stone grated across the floor.

  
“Sorry I’m late, had to deal with some bitch upstairs looking for you.” The brunette woman entered the room and closed the door behind her, not noticing Eleanor. “Hard to believe you still have friends.” The woman crouched in front of the tied up blonde and grabbed both her cheeks with one hand, forcing her head up from it’s slouched position. “Don’t worry, they’ll all forget about you soon enough.”

  
Eleanor took in a breath and stepped forward.  
“Get your hands off my mother.” She said, stern and calm on the outside despite the anxiety flooding her veins on the inside.  
“Mother?” The brunette stood up and looked between Eleanor and her mom with a look as if the funniest joke in the world had just been told. “Well I certainly wasn’t expecting th-” The woman’s sentence was cut off by Eleanor’s metal cloaked fist. Once she started, she didn’t stop until the woman’s face looked like a smushed tomato littered with maggots.

  
She untied her mom from the pole in the center of the room and used the same ropes to tie the brunette woman in place. Her mom had to be dragged out of the way first, too weak to move on her own.

  
Eleanor grabbed the woman’s pulpy red cheeks with a single hand, mimicking what the woman had done moments earlier and wipes blood off her own forehead with the other.  
“Can you hear me, Bitch?” No response. Eleanor squeezed tighter. “Can you hear me?” She growled. The woman groaned in response. “Good. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Eleanor Peabody. And I know who you are, Gladys. Listen close. You are going to rot here, no one knowing what happened to you, while I head to that shitty little town of Riverdale, and take care of your son.”

  
Gladys gained another wave of strength at that comment and ripped her face away from Eleanor.  
“You stay away from him.” She growls.  
“You should be happy, I could have chosen your other kid. A daughter for a daughter is more poetic, don’t you think? But lucky for you I don’t hurt little kids.” Eleanor stands and helps her mom to her feet, acting as a crutch. She heads to the door but stops, turning back with a sinister smile. “But who knows, maybe I’ll have a change of heart on the way there. Maybe I’ll kill them both.”

  
Gladys tries to shout at her as she leaves but Eleanor doesn’t listen to the words that come out.

  
After closing the hidden door, she kicks some nearby boxes in front of it for good measure.

  
“Come on, let’s get you home.”


	2. Chapter Two

‘A town with pep’ Eleanor didn’t think that was true. Of course, she hadn’t been there since she was a toddler, barely two years old, but she had heard the stories. Her dad had told her many times growing up about the gang he fled, and the class divide. It could have changed over the years, sure, but a rotten fruit only gets worse.  
She stole a glance in the rearview mirror of her bright red 1954 Cadillac Eldorado that her dad had fixed up for her 16th birthday.  
That felt like ages ago now, after everything that had happened, but in reality it had only been a couple of months since she had first revved it’s engine and ridden down to the local ice cream shop with her dad.  
The off-white leather back seat that her dad had so pain stackingly restored was now marred with dirt and flakes of dried blood. Penny was leaned against the door looking like a poorly positioned dummy about to be blown up in place of an actor for a movie. Next to her, half on her lap, was the shaggy mess of a dog Eleanor had named Junkyard. An ironic name now, considering where she had found her mom.  
Junkyard whined as he tried to slither his nose under Penny’s limp arm.  
Eleanor turned her attention back to the road. The town looked as though it had been paused in the 1950s. There was a old diner with a lighted sign, rows of houses from the era of new suburbia, and people who walked the streets in colorful waist high skirts that were all but in length a relic of an earlier time. Her kind of place.  
As she continued to drive, she noticed the looks. The stares of the citizens of Riverdale spiked her blood with adrenaline. She knew they would look, of course, but it was the symbol some of them bore on their jackets that had her concerned: A two headed snake, in the shape of an ‘S’. She knew it well - her father had it tattooed on his neck.  
As they started to get closer to downtown, Eleanor began to worry more about running into someone that could throw a wrench in her plans to surprise that bitch’s kid. Her mom also seemed to grow more anxious with every passing street.  
She saw a sign for a hotel and turned into the parking lot. She took a breath before turning over the back of her seat.  
“I’m going to have to go inside alone. I’ll get a room, towels, and anything else I can find. I will come back, make you look like you haven’t been freshly murdered, and then we will take it from there.” She said. She wasn’t worried about herself, she had already wiped off all of the blood that had splattered on her and covered her dirty t-shirt with the flannel that had previously been around her waist.  
Penny didn’t respond so Eleanor just turned back around in her seat and started to open the door. That’s when she finally heard her mother’s raspy voice.  
“Eleanor?” She asked. Eleanor turned to her. “Why?” Penny swallowed and spoke again with a bit less of a raspy tone. “Why did you come for me?” Eleanor was silent for a minute.  
“Junkyard will stay here with you until I get back.” She finally responded. “If you see anyone you know that might not like you being here instead of six feet under, try to hide your face. I won’t be long. Just, promise you’ll wait for me to get back.” Penny nodded and Eleanor headed inside.  
A chipper young man with too-perfect hair and a ‘I love my job’ smile stood behind the front desk of the hotel. He wore a red jacket two sizes too big for him with a name tag stuck in it that read ‘Stan’. Eleanor hated him already.  
“Welcome to the five seasons! Can I get you a room?” He chirped. Eleanor bit her lip to avoid rolling her eyes and plastered on her best good girl smile.  
“Yes, actually.”  
“Okay, just you?” He scribbled something in a book. Was everything in this town old-school?  
“No, my mother will be joining me when her flight gets in. But just me for now.”  
“Alrighty then! You’re all set.” He hands her a key with a giant red keychain on it. “Room 306, third floor and to the left.”  
“Thanks.” Eleanor left the desk and mentally flipped the boy the bird.  
When she reached the room it was pristine. There were two beds, each with red and white sheets and a folded towel swan on them, a t.v., a small bathroom with a shower, and a closet with no door.  
She grabbed the swans, disfiguring them in the process, and checked the closet for more towels. She didn’t find any, but there was hotel soaps and shampoos as well as a first aid kit. She grabbed the first aid kit, not sure how much help it would do, before moving on to the bathroom.  
There was more soap and little shampoo bottles, two more towels, and a complementary sample sized bottle of maple rum that Eleanor grimaced at.  
She took the bottle and opened the cap, sniffing it and deciding it smelled like it had a high enough alcohol content to cleanse a wound. She screwed the cap back on and added it to her pile of stuff. She turned to leave, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror on the way out.  
Her wavy blonde hair hung down to her shoulders, the bangs she was growing out acting as layers to keep the curls bouncy. Her blue eyes were framed with smudged black eyeliner and sat on top of bags that were so dark they looked like bruises. Speaking of bruises, the one on her jawline had already yellowed and the one on her cheekbone was finally turning more blue than purple.  
“God, I look like hell.” She muttered to herself before turning to the door.  
She was able to pocket some of the smaller items but had to hide the towels with her body on the way out to the parking lot. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that her mom and Junkyard were both still there.  
“I got some stuff.” She said. She climbed into the backseat next to her mom and unloaded her stash.  
“Towels and some taster bottle of rum?” Penny asked rhetorically.  
“Shut up and be grateful you’re not still down in that dungeon.” Eleanor opened the bottle and poured some of the contents onto the corner of a towel. “This might hurt a little.”  
“I think I can take it.”  
Eleanor dabbed the alcohol soaked towel onto the most prominent of her mom’s wounds to which Penny flinched.  
“Hold still.” Eleanor ordered. She continued to clean any visible wound but she ran out of rum quick and had to rely on the cleaning wipes from the first aid kit. As she worked, her mom talked, still in a weak voice.  
“So it really is you, huh?”  
“Mm-hm.” Eleanor tried to block her out, not ready for the big conversation she knew she was bound to have wether she wanted to or not.  
“Where’s your dad?”  
“He’s dead.” She said it matter of fact but the words stung her heart.  
“Jesus. What about your uncle?”  
“Car accident when I was five.”  
“So you’ve got no one then?”  
“I’ve got a talkative bitch that won’t hold still.” This made Penny go silent. It didn’t last.  
“How did you find me?”  
“There.” Eleanor put down the now brown towel. “I’m sure it still hurts like hell and I can’t do anything about your clothes or the wounds you probably have anywhere else, but your face and neck look passable. Now let’s get you inside, mom.”

  
*

  
“Are you sure it was her?” Jughead Jones’ voice asked from the other end of the phone.  
“I’m sure. She was pretty beat up, but I know it was her.” Toni Topaz responded. She had been on a morning stroll with her girlfriend, Cheryl Blossom when she had seen the firetruck red Eldorado roll to a stop at a stopsign. She had called Jughead the moment the car was out of sight. Cheryl had left to follow the car and see where they were going. “A girl was driving her. About our age. I know you and Betty wanted to get away this weekend but-”  
“Yeah, I know. Let me know what Cheryl finds out. Thanks, Toni.”  
“Be careful, Jughead.” Toni hung up the line and dialed Cheryl who answered after the first ring. “Hey babe, any news?”  
“No surprise, they stopped at the five seasons. The girl that was with her went inside, should I approach the wretched woman?” Cheryl whispered into the phone. She was ducked down behind a car in the parking lot of Riverdale’s most infamous hotel, watching Penny intently.  
“No, I don’t want you getting hurt.” Toni Responds.  
“She doesn’t look like much of a threat right now.”  
“Just stay where you are. I’m gonna call Jughead back and see what he wants to do.”  
“Okay.” Cheryl is about to hang up when she spots the blonde girl coming back towards the car. “Hold on.”  
“What is it?”  
“That girl that was driving her is coming back. She’s getting in the car.”  
“Okay, Cheryl, don’t let them drive off. I’m calling Jughead-”  
“No. She’s in the backseat. It looks like she’s cleaning her wounds.” Cheryl pauses. “O.M.G.” She says, using the letters instead of the proper words. “You might want to be sitting down, TT, you’re never going to believe this.”

  
*

  
Eleanor helps Penny out of the car, once again acting as her crutch.  
“Do you think you can walk? It will look suspicious if I carry you in like this.” Eleanor asks.  
“Yeah, I think so.” Penny lets go of Eleanor and wobbles before balancing herself. She leans to one side, gripping a broken rib, and leaves pressure off her leg with the worst break.  
“Come on, Junk.” Eleanor pats the side of her leg and Junkyard jumps out of the car.  
The two entered the hotel, trying to blend in with the weekend crowd, with Junkyard trotting not far behind. They weren’t the only ones with a dog so he didn’t cause them to stand out, but Penny’s limp and bruises certainly made blending in a little harder. They managed to get to the elevators but once inside Penny collapsed.  
“Shit!” Eleanor grabs her mom under the arms and tries to pull her up but she isn’t strong enough.  
Beep.  
Floor two.  
“Couldn’t have made it a few more minutes?!” Eleanor shakes Penny, trying to wake her up, but that doesn’t work either.  
Beep.  
Before the doors can open Eleanor pulls the stop switch. A ringing shrieks overhead and Junkyard howls along to it.  
“God damn it. Wake up!” Eleanor continues to shake Penny. “Wake! Up! Damn it! Really not how I thought this reunion would go.” She looks around the elevator. “Think, Eleanor. Think.” Her eyes fall on Junkyard. “Junkyard, kiss.” She says, pointing to Penny.  
Junkyard turns to Penny and licks her ear. She wakes up and pushes him off.  
“Oh thank God.” Eleanor helps her up and pushes back in the stop switch. When they reach their room Eleanor takes her first real breath of the day and collapsed onto one of the beds.  
She had made it to Riverdale, and, in her mind, without a hitch. For now, she was safe. For the night at least.  
For what Eleanor didn’t know was that just outside in the parking lot, Cheryl Blossom was rummaging through Eleanor’s back seat. She tossed aside the dirty towels and empty bottle of maple rum and moved to the passengers seat. She opened the glove box, sorting through old receipts and coins for tollbooths. That’s where she found the registration and insurance card. Eleanor Peabody’s registration and insurance card.  
“This confirms it, TT. That girl, is Penny’s daughter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll post as I write more which means probably a lot during this quarantine but a lot less when I go back to college in the Fall. If you have any thoughts on this piece please leave a comment, I love hearing what people think even if it's 'this sucks fuck you'. Although hopefully the comments won't ALL be that. 
> 
> In the previous story (mentioned in Chapter 1's notes) Eleanor dated Toni Topaz but I don't think she will get with anyone in this fic. If this actually gets a few readers and you guys comment that you want her with someone, I will make her date whoever, so hey comments can help you chose the story in that way. And in other ways too. Comment an idea and I might add it if it makes sense.


	3. Chapter Three

It had been a month since Penny Peabody had returned to town and for the most part, nothing had changed in the town. Penny had been growing stronger and Eleanor had been tracking down Glady’s son but that was all behind closed doors. As a town, nothing major had happened to Riverdale in what seemed like the longest stretch of time anyone could remember things not going wrong.

Jughead had set up shifts of serpents to keep watch at the five seasons with orders to call him and follow her if she were to leave. She didn’t. Eleanor did though. She came and went as she pleased, often leaving with nothing and returning with take out boxes or convenience store bags.

She had never noticed the spies; Not until that day at least. She was headed to the Jade of the Orient restaurant for some takeout when she saw it: a flash of red from the corner of her eye. When she turned to look, there was no one there, but she wouldn’t be fooled.

She continued across the parking lot, turning into the street. Once she felt she was far enough away not to be seen, she turned back around. Hiking through the abandoned and overgrown lot that bordered the parking lot of the Five Seasons, she saw her. Cheryl Blossom, only Eleanor didn’t know her name, slithering about behind some cars.

She felt a stab of anxiety in her chest which prompted her to move forward, crouching behind the girl until she was close enough to stand and pin her to a nearby car. Cheryl shrieked in surprise.

“Why are you spying on me?” Eleanor demanded.

“Hawk!” Cheryl screamed “Hawk!”

“What the hell are you-” Eleanor’s sentence was cut off by a blow to the back of her head.

You see, Jughead wasn’t dumb. He would never have left one of his own alone to watch such a dangerous woman, and certainly never would have left any of them to watch her without a safe word. A cry for help. A secret code. Seeing as hawks were natural predators of snakes, it seemed only fitting.

“My hero.” Cheryl smiled.

“Call Jughead.” Toni said, dropping the rock she had bashed Eleanor’s head with. “He’ll tell us what to do with her.”

When Eleanor came through about a half hour later, she found herself tied to a chair in the middle of a desecrated one room cabin, surrounded by unfamiliar faces. Well, there was one familiar face - Jughead. She knew him from the pictures she had found. With him, who Eleanor didn’t know, was Veronica Lodge, Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Cheryl Blossom, Toni Topaz, Sweetpea, and Fangs Fogarty.

“Welcome back.” Jughead said in a tone Eleanor rolled her eyes at.

“Don’t try to sound cool. Trying to sound cool just makes you sound lame.” Eleanor kept her voice calm though on the inside her heart was beating rapidly. “I don’t know who you think I am, but sending ginger over there to keep tabs on me instead of dealing with me yourself is a little rude, don’t ya think?” Cheryl glares and Toni grabs her hand as if to say ‘calm down’.

“Oh I know exactly who you are.” Jughead smiled.

“You really thought you could sneak that conniving bitch into our town without us hearing about it?” This time it was Betty who spoke. “Think again.”

“Oh I’m real threatened by the ponytail blonde in the pink sweater.” Eleanor scoffs.

“Wow. That smartass comment just confirmed it.” Jughead pulls up a chair in front of Eleanor and sits in it backwards with his forearms rested on the backrest. “I have to admit, when Cheryl and Toni told me they heard you call her mom I didn’t believe it at first. And then that car registration? I just thought you had faked it. But that comment. Wow. You really are just like her.”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about. Just let me go and I’ll forget this ever happened.” Eleanor says.

“I think you know exactly what he’s talking about, Eleanor.” Betty says with a smile and a head tilt. She grins more at Eleanor’s shocked reaction. “That’s right. We told you we know who you are.”  
“How long have you been watching us?” Eleanor scans the room with her eyes. Her heart skips a beat when she sees the first snake jacket. It skips another when she sees Sweatpea’s tattoo.

“I’ve had eyes on you ever since you got to town.” Jughead replies.

“You’re serpents.” Eleanor didn’t seem to hear his answer. “That tattoo.” She nods in Sweetpea’s direction. “Those jackets.” She nods at Cheryl and Toni. She looks back at Jughead. “You’re serpents, aren’t you?”

“What, you didn’t know who I am?” Jughead chuckles.

“You’re Jughead Jones, the son of the woman that held my mother captive for months. You’re the man I came here to kill. But, you’re a serpent. It doesn’t make sense.” Eleanor said, thinking. “My dad, he told me about you. All of you. You ran him out of town. You forced him to leave.” she looks him dead in the eyes now. “You forced him to leave town because you backed up my mom. Why in the hell would serpents want her dead?”

Jughead reeled back and glanced at Betty who gave him a look only the two of them could decipher. They continued this silent conversation for a few seconds before both turning back to the blonde girl before them.

“What exactly is it that you think happened between the serpents and your mom?” Betty asked.

“My dad beat her, that was no secret. He beat me too but don’t think that means I hate him, I’ll be honest that I deserved it. The serpents didn’t agree with his discipline. My mom, Penny, she went to the leader of your gang, I don’t know his name, and told on my dad. The men got together that night and disciplined him right back. They told him to leave town and never come back.” Eleanor says this all matter of fact but hesitates before saying the next part. “Only he didn’t leave right then and there. He went back home to his trailer, ready to take her with him. Only, she wasn’t there. You see, my mom was much younger than him at the time. About ten years younger. She had already had his kid against her will and refused to let him force her into anything else. So she fled. She didn’t trust you lot to take care of him. I used to think she was weak for that but now she’s all I’ve got so I guess I have to think of her as strong. What she is weak for though, what she will always be weak for is not taking me with her. The bitch ran off to college and left me in that trailer to die. If my dad hadn’t come back and taken me with him I would be dead.”  
“How can we know you’re telling the truth?” Jughead asked, unphased by the story.

“I guess there really is no way for you to know for sure.” Eleanor responds.

“Hold on,” This time it was Veronica who spoke. She strutted forward. “If you are mad at your mom for leaving you to die as you call it, then why come to Riverdale? Why put her up in the five seasons?”

“You’re not a serpent, are you?”

“What does that matter?”

“You don’t walk like them. You wear heels, which aren’t good for fighting in, and you have an entitled attitude. NYC, am I right?” Eleanor’s lips twitch into a smile before falling back into a frown.

“You’re right. I’m not a serpent.” Veronica smiles back. “I’m just the girl whose friend was mutilated by the woman you are protecting. So I ask again, Eleanor, why come home to mommy?”  
“She’s family. You do anything for family. I don’t like the things she’s done in the past, sure, but she’s family. I didn’t like it when my dad sold my body out to his friends but he was family so I endured it.” Eleanor looks Veronica in the eyes. “Or maybe...maybe there’s a part of me that thinks she was in the right going to college and leaving my dad behind. Maybe there’s a part of me that thinks becoming a lawyer and making something of yourself is more respectable than being-”

“A drunk like your father?” Jughead ends the sentence for her.

“No.” Eleanor looks at him. “My dad wasn’t a drunk, he was just a bastard.”

“Well that’s very touching, it really is.” Cheryl clasps her hands together. “But I don’t believe you, trailer trash.” Toni, Jughead, Fangs, and Sweetpea all give her a look. “What? I didn’t mean you all were trash. Just her.”

“Well I think she’s telling the truth. Why lie?” Toni says, looking to Jughead.

“Toni has a point, she’s tied up with no where to go, why lie about this?” Veronica agrees.

“Even if she is, she has to know about what Penny did to you.” Fangs chimes in. “If she knows that and is still protecting her then I say we make sure she doesn’t get to see the light again.”

“I agree.” Cheryl says.

“Okay, everybody calm down.” Jughead orders. He looks at Eleanor, thinking. He stands from the chair and sheds his leather skin, revealing a large scar on his shoulder. “Do you know how I got this?”

“I have a feeling based on this conversation that my mom had something to do with it?” Eleanor says flatly.

“I used to have a tattoo here. A serpent tattoo. Do you know why I don’t have it now?” Eleanor answers with a look instead of words. “I have it because your mom and her thugs beat me almost to death. I lived, because of luck. She had them kick and punch me until I could barely move and then she took her knife and she cut it off. I was sixteen. Tell me, is that the woman you’re trying to protect?”

“You must have done something to provoke her.” Eleanor shakes her head. “I haven’t known her long but I don’t think she would just blindly carve pieces out of someone without a reason.”

“You think there is any way this could have been justified?” Jughead grew angrier.

“Depends on what you did to her.” Jughead turned to storm out and Eleanor called after him. “You know, not telling me what you did is a sign of guilt!” The others follow him out into the night.  
“It’s a sign I’m right!” The door shuts behind the group, leaving the girl alone.

Finally, she let her guard down. The adrenaline that had been pumping through her veins was felt at full force, the stabbing pain in her heart was given her full attention and the burning in her lungs was treated with more oxygen. She cried in the wave of pain and fear that accompanied her panic attack, wishing to God she had Junkyard there with her.

It seemed to her that the harder she tried to seem bullet proof on the outside, the more broken she became on the inside.


	4. Chapter Four

All that night Eleanor had waited for her captors to come back. She didn’t sleep, she just scanned the room looking for a way to free herself. The chair she was tied to was metal so there was no breaking it to get loose. There was nothing sharp around to cut the ropes and she couldn’t untie them. Even if she could find a way out of her binds, she knew there would be guards outside the cabin door.

She thought that this was how Penny must have felt. Eleanor was struggling with one night, how had her mom lasted months? Years? She honestly had no idea how long her mom was held captive, but it seemed like a long time based on the ages on her wounds.

Eleanor though about her mom a lot that night. She thought about how she had never asked her dad about her. She thought about how her mom had never tried to find her. Mostly, she thought about that scar. Had her mom really done that? She was family, sure, that was why Eleanor’s dad had sent her to find her mom in the first place, because despite how he perceived her, she was going to be Eleanor’s only family when he died, but what did she really know about her? 

She knew she legally shared her mom’s last name, though she had never used it until she came to this town. She knew her mom was beaten by her dad the same way she was and maybe even subjected to other things Eleanor had been. She knew, though she tried to think of it as a lie, that her mom had given that boy a scar on his arm. She tried to force herself to think he was lying, but in knowing her mom for just a few weeks, she already felt that this was something Penny was capable of.   
Family. Family had hurt her all her life. But it was family. She was family. 

Eleanor had never blamed her dad for what he did to her, because he was family so it was okay. But her mom did that to someone else, someone who wasn’t family, and that Eleanor couldn’t justify. She knew he must have done something to provoke her, but he was a kid and her mom was an adult and they were strangers so, how could that be justified?  
As the sun began to rise in the sky and shine through the treetops and windows and onto the floor of the tiny cabin, Eleanor began to worry that no one would come back for her today. Anxiety flooded her brain and told her she would starve to death, tied to a chair in the middle of a shitty cabin in the middle of a strange town. She supposed there were worse ways to die, but the thought of leaving Junkyard behind scared her into wanting to live.

Her fears subsided when the door to the cabin opened to reveal the beanie wearing ravenette. 

“Hope you slept well.” He said, closing the door behind him.

“What do you want? You want to kill me? Just do it already. You want me to admit my mom was in the wrong? Fine, she was, now let me go.” Eleanor’s falsely calm demeanor wavered.  
“After I left last night, my friends and I had a chat about you.” He kept his distance, not looking at her but instead at things in the room. “Some of them were on your side. They really felt for that story about your dad. Others…” He shrugged. “Well they were with me and thought you should rot in here while we went to the five seasons to finish what my mom didn’t.” Eleanor’s face went pale with another surge of anxiety but she kept it twisted into a frown. Jughead finally turned his attention to her and stepped closer. “Eventually, we came to an agreement. You work for us, get her to put her guard down, and help us get revenge.”

“You already got revenge.” Eleanor said. “Can’t this just end?”

“You don’t understand.”

“Then explain it to me. What happened between you and her? What started this, this cycle of violence and hatred?”

“I’ll explain it to you, all of it, if you chose to side with us.”

“How can I chose a side without all of the information?”

“Easy. You choose us and we let you live. You chose her, and we take you down with her.”

“And how do you know I won’t betray you and tell her what you’re planning? Get her to leave town? Leave town myself?”

“Because we’ll be keeping eyes on you. Someone will be assigned to watch you at all times. If you try anything, they will make sure you stay in line. They might pose as your friends, they might follow you from a distance. You might not even know they are there. But they will keep you in check.”

“Okay. Let’s say I agree. I help you get your revenge, then what happens to me?”

“After? After we’re done with her, you will leave Riverdale. You will pack your bags, get a ticket to the first train out of town, and never come back.”

Eleanor thinks it over, knowing she doesn’t have a choice. Everything she had ever been taught was to put family first. To die for family. Family was tradition; Family was honor; Family was everything. But in a way, her father was her only true family, right? She tried to reason with herself. Her father was dead so her family was dead. Penny may share her genes but that didn’t make her her mother. She never raised her or housed her. She didn’t sacrifice anything for Eleanor, so why should Eleanor give her life for her?

“Okay.” Eleanor takes a shaky breath. “Okay. Fine. I’ll do it.” 

Jughead takes out a switchblade and cuts the ropes that held her hands and feet. Eleanor rubs her wrists and stands.

“Will you kill her?” The question leaves her lips before she even knows she’s thinking it. He looks at her, no emotion in his eyes.

“Yes. Probably. Will that be a problem for you?” He asks. Eleanor shakes her head.

“No.”

“Good. Now let’s get you back before she starts to worry.”

Jughead leads Eleanor outside and through the woods until they hit a street where Toni is standing next to the red Eldorado.

“Is this my first babysitter?” Eleanor jokes. Toni throws keys at her which she barely catches.

“I’m going with you to make sure you don’t tell her what really happened.” Toni says. “We will take your car back to the hotel, and you will tell Penny that you went out for food at Pop’s and-”

“Where?” Eleanor cocked an eyebrow and Toni gives Jughead a ‘really’ look.

“A diner. Look, it doesn’t matter. You ran into a group of people, starting talking, and found out about a party. You went, got a little bit too drunk, and slept it off on my couch.”

“I’d prefer to sleep it off in your bed.” Eleanor smirks and promptly gets slapped by Toni. “Ow! Damn take a fucking joke!”

“On my couch, and then I went with you home to make sure you got there safe.” Toni finishes.

“Will she recognize you?”

“You’ll say you didn’t tell me who your mom was because you had no idea about her past with us. I’ll then say I’ve had a change of heart since we last met and that I’m on her side.”

“And she’ll believe that?”

“She will if you tell her to.”

“I think you over estimate my pull with my mom. She doesn’t know me well and might just think I’ve turned on her too.” Eleanor says. “Which, I mean, to be fair I kinda have. What if you don’t wear the jacket?” Eleanor nods to Toni’s serpent jacket. “And cover the tattoo? Not just with a shirt, she’ll want to see it. If her problem is with your gang and the leader of it, maybe saying you ditched the whole thing is a better idea.”

Toni furrows her brows and bites her lip.

“She’s right.” Jughead says, crossing his arms. “We’ll cover your tattoo with a temporary cover job.”

“What if she tries to wash it off? I’ve only known her a few days but she seems a little paranoid.” Eleanor looks from Jughead to Toni. “If you want her to believe it, it has to be real.”

“No way.” Toni shakes her head. “I don’t know what your planning but you can not make me cover my serpent tattoo.”

“I’m not planning anything. I’m just helping things go smoothly so I don’t get blamed when things go wrong. Which,” she turns to Jughead who is looking at Toni, “they won’t if you go with my plan and make her cover the tat. I could do it so there’s no chance of her being seen getting it freshly done. The redness will go away in an hour and then we can go to the five seasons. After my mom is dead and I’m out of town she can always just get it redone.”

“Jughead, you can not seriously be considering this.” Toni protests. Jughead remains silent for a moment, thinking it over, before he responds.

“You’ll do it.” He says.

“No.” Toni spits. “No, you get Sweetpea to take her, or Fangs. I’m not doing that.”

“Do you really think either of them would cover theirs?” Jughead says. “I’m asking you to this for the serpents, Toni. We are all in danger with Penny still out there and this is the best way to make sure she doesn’t find out our plan or skip town before we can get to her.”

Toni glares at him, then Eleanor, then back at him before finally taking a breath.

“Fine. For the serpents. That’s the only reason I’m doing this.” She says.

“Alright. Eleanor,” Jughead turns to her, “what do you need to cover it?”

“Depends what you can get. Proper tools and ink is always preferable but ig that’s hard for you to get a hold of, a needle and some pen ink will work just fine.”


	5. Chapter Five

The drive was longer than Eleanor had thought it would be. She had gotten bored with being silent.

“How’s the tat?” She asks with a smile that is met with a glare. “What? Cat got your tongue?” Toni looked out the window, ignoring her. “Yeah I feel you. Jesus these woods are deep. What would you do if I just pulled off the road and killed you in there?” This got a response.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I mean, I’m not going to. But I could. Seriously do you guys even think anything through? Where’s your backup?”

“What makes you think I don’t have any?”

“Well there’s no other cars and they can’t save you from the trunk so…”

“Maybe I have them trailing behind us on purpose. Or maybe they’re on dirt bikes in the woods.”

“True.” Eleanor was quiet for a moment but couldn’t help herself. “So how long have you lived in Riverdale…?” She trailed off looking for a name.

“Toni.”

“Toni that short for anything?”

“Antoinette.”

“I like that. Antoinette.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Been in Riverdale long, Antoinette?” Eleanor smiles. Toni rolls her eyes. “I only just got here a few weeks ago. Didn’t even know what my mom looked like, let alone who her enemies were. You can imagine my surprise to find out this 1950s looking town had a gang war going on.” 

“Stop talking.”

“Aw, are you still mad me for the tattoo thing? You have to at least admit that was pretty smart of me.” No answer. “Come on, that was smart. Admit it, Antoinette.”

“I told you not to call me that.”

“And I told you I like it.”

“Do you try to be annoying?”

“Sometimes. What about you, Antoinette, do you ever try to annoy someone for fun?”

“No. I don’t.”

“What do you do for fun then?”

“Why so interested in my life story?” Toni asks. Eleanor shrugs. 

“Just figured it’s a long ride and talking about you and this picturesque little town seems more fun than talking about my fucked up life.”

“Riverdale is anything but picturesque.”

“It seems pretty nice to me.” Toni finally faces Eleanor.

“Really?” Toni says. “In the past four years we’ve had two serial killers, two cults, a gang war, an illegal prison fighting ring-”

“That sounds like fun.” Eleanor interrupts. Toni continues.

“-two different drug rings, a father who murdered his own child, and twice we’ve had people die during the high school musicals.”

“Damn.” Eleanor takes her eyes off the road to glance at Toni. “This is definitely my kind of town.” She laughs and turns back to the road.

“You’re a bitch.”

“Says the one that kidnapped me.”

“We didn’t kidnap you.”

“Oh sorry, what do you call it when you knock someone out, tie them to a chair in the middle of no where and force them to work for you?”

“You were threatening my girlfriend.”

“Woah backup. I was gonna make a smart ass comment but now I genuinely have to ask, the ginger is your girlfriend?”

“You got a problem with that?”

“No, well not the gay part ‘cus I mean, same, but why her? Like no offense but I’ve heard the girl speak like two sentences and both times she’s sounded like a 1900s scholar writing an dis track while making sure to use every big word they know.” Eleanor laughs but Toni doesn’t find it as funny. “I mean honestly? I had to bite my tongue not to laugh at the syntax. She’s got mean girl vibes too. I can just see her walking around the school going ‘dearest peasants thou shall not dress like me or they will be subject to getting slut enscribbed on their locker’”. Toni flips open a pocket knife Eleanor didn’t know she had and holds it to Eleanor’s side.

“I don’t think I want to hear you talk anymore.” Toni threatens. A jolt of anxiety shoots through Eleanor’s heart but she hides it well.

“Oh like you’ll use that. I’m driving this car, if you stab me-” Toni presses the knife closer, cutting through Eleanor’s shirt and slightly into her skin. “Okay okay! I’ll shut up! Damn!” She shouts, adding “don’t get on your bad side, Jesus.” under her breath.

The rest of the drive was entirely in silence. Toni held the knife to Eleanor’s side the entire time, finally putting it away when they reached the parking lot. Eleanor’s cut wasn’t deep and the little blood that had shed was now dried and un noticeable. 

“You’re going to take me to the room and do as we planned. If you or your mother try anything, I will not hesitate to use this.” She motions with the knife.

“Got it.” Eleanor said.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts? The OC was originally from a different fanfic I wrote with my cousin and friend called "Riverdale: A different kind of tale" but I reimagined her for this.


End file.
